The Iron CurtainThough out of office in Britain in the late 1940s, Churchill retained huge prestige and influence on the international stage. In March 1946, at the encouragement of President Harry Truman, he traveled to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, to speak. His speech was a call for closer Anglo-American cooperation in the post-war world, but it is now best remembered for its warnings about the threat of Soviet expansionism, eloquently captured in the phrase "Iron Curtain."

Old Friends In A New RoleDuring his second premiership (1951-55) Churchill struggled to initiate a summit meeting with Stalin's successors in the Kremlin. He felt that strong negotiation might obtain an end to the nuclear arms race and establish détente in the Cold War. In this goal he was frustrated, partly by his own failing health, partly by the opposition of President Dwight Eisenhower and other Western leaders who favored a harder line against communism and the Soviet Union, and partly by the new Soviet leaders who resisted détente.